Paul Wallbank | Paul Wallbank - Communications Professional

The innovation smugglers

Those dissenters sneaking new tools into your business are the future. Your organisation needs to embrace them.

“Sales staff have bought a pile of iPad’s!” wailed a senior executive last week “they didn’t get authorisation through IT, there are all sorts of security and business risks!”

This echoed the comments I’d heard a few weeks earlier while doing a workshop on cloud computing, that people were running software as a service applications alongside their businesses’ software without telling their management what they were doing.

All of this is reminiscent of the spread of personal computers in the late 1980s where IT departments, such as they then were, banned the use of IBM compatible or Macintosh computers because they were outside the control of the organisation.

The prevailing view was that computer systems were the domain of a select few, running the payroll and doing complex calculations in batches at two in the morning. There was no reason why the average worker should need this sort of technology.

Eventually, managements realised those subversive personal computers running programs like Wordstar and VisiCalc improved productivity and made businesses more flexible. Within five years few businesses didn’t have computers on the desks of every office worker.

We’re at the same stage now with cloud computing, social media and portable devices as many of today’s managers see them as at best toys and a threat to their organisation’s integrity. Quietly though, groups within are using theses tools to improve their teams’ effectiveness while not letting IT or senior management know how they are doing it.

These dissenters are an organisation’s innovators and in a perfect world they would be embraced by managers, directors and shareholders alike as the future of the company.

Many large organisations though don’t see it this way, as their view of the workplace is that innovation and new ideas have to be signed off by seven layers of management after being cleared by legal, HR and the facilities department.

This is where the opportunity lies for the smaller, smarter companies. These tools make organisations faster and more responsive to threats and opportunities which is perfect for the nimble and flexible enterprises.

If you have staff who are smuggling in these tools and devices into your business, consider sitting down with them and getting them to show you how these products improve their work. You may be surprised and it may save you some time in writing stern memos which will be ignored anyway.

The beauty of these tools is you don’t need to throw out your existing equipment and methods as often these new innovations sit happily alongside the legacy stuff. Cloud services are good example of this where services such as Salesforce and Google Apps work with and often plug into the older, established tools.

Because they play nice with existing business tools it’s easy to introduce or evaluate new systems by encouraging the innovators to set up groups or pilot projects within the organisation, which is probably what they are doing anyway without telling you.

In a competitive world, your dissenters are one of your greatest assets, by questioning how and why we use the tools we do, these folk are figuring out how businesses will run in the connected economy.

The question is, do you want your business to be succeed in this new economy?

Small Business Internet Marketing Secrets

Join three of Australia’s top experts to improve how your business is seen online.

An effective web presence that makes the most of traditional marketing, the Internet and social media is essential to for any growing business.

The Small Business Internet Marketing Secrets workshop brings together three of Australia’s leading Internet and marketing experts; Paul Wallbank, Michelle Gamble and Lara Solomon to reveal the secrets of finding and keeping customers online.

We’ll be covering how the Internet fits into your marketing plan, setting up an effective web presence and using social media to spread the word about your business.

Thanks to our corporate supporters, Sensis, we’ll have an iPad to give away to one of our lucky attendees.

Small Business Internet Marketing Secrets will be held in Sydney on September 28 where Lara, Michelle and Paul will show you how to get a cost effective presence online.

Registrations are open now for a discounted early bird rate at the Marketing Angels website. Move fast as spaces are limited

the failure imperative

To succeed, we need to risk failure

Reading an Inc Magazine profile of TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington, one of the quotes that leapt out of the story was Arrington’s view on entrepreneurs and failure;

Our main competitive advantage is that my team and I truly love entrepreneurs. They’re my rock stars. I’ve always been fascinated by entrepreneurs. I had four businesses that did not work out. TechCrunch is my first real success, and it happened by accident. If I were to write a book, it would be about what drives entrepreneurs. I meet the winners, and the losers, too. Most of them could go out and get a perfectly reasonable job as an accountant or a lawyer. Instead, they risk everything for almost certain failure. The losers are actually more interesting sometimes. You learn a ton from failure.

“You learn a ton from failure”

We have a habit of celebrating the winners and ignoring the ventures that didn’t work out, if we don’t outright scorn them.

The thing is we learn from the failures — the misjudgements, bad luck and downright stupid ideas that we all have when running a business teach us about ourselves, our partners and the world around us.

We need to be valuing those lessons as they prepare us for when we do have a success.

The world is becoming increasingly risk adverse and the paradox there is that by avoiding failure, we ultimately reduce our chances of success.

Dealing with a telco dispute

ten ways to resolve a phone company or Internet problem

Once again, Australian telcos find themselves being criticised by regulators and consumer groups for their poor performance. This time over poor service, complexity of bills and overcharging on “freecall” numbers.

The frustrating thing with all of these complaint is they are nothing new, as shown by an earlier version of this article in 2007.

So the problems with phone and Internet companies remain and many customers, both consumers and businesses, are forced to go through the time wasting dance of dealing with call centres, complex contracts and often finishing with consumer protection organisations like the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman or other state and Federal authorities.

However there are ways of reducing the problems and improving your chances of resolving issues quickly and on your terms;

Call them

The first step when you realise you have a problem is to call them. This is the quickest and easiest way to resolve things. If you can solve the problem at this point, you will save a lot of time, money and frustration.

When dealing with any call centre, there are a few important things to remember. You must remain polite, you must never make threats and you should note everything. A lot of this can be easier said than done.

Take notes

From the first call, you must take notes. Every time you speak to the call centre you must note the date and time you have made the call, the time they answered, the name of the person you spoke to, what you discussed, what was agreed (if anything) and the time the call ended. Any important discussions should be confirmed in writing.

Be Calm and Polite

At every stage of the process you must stay cool and polite. Do not lose your temper and do not abuse people. If you find the person you are dealing with is rude or provocative, or if find your blood pressure rising, then politely finish the conversation and call back later later.

Don’t Make Threats

Making threats will hurt your argument and draw the process out. Threatening people only makes their attitude harder or locks them into a position where they cannot negotiate with you.

Suing the ISP, complaining to the TIO, going to the media or calling consumer affairs are all options you have available should everything else fail but the aim is to settle the matter quickly and amicably without going to the time and expense of complaining to other authorities.

Do it in writing

It is important to confirm everything in writing. All too often people believe a matter has been settled only to find it is still a problem months or years later. Follow up any important conversations with a letter confirming the details including the time, date and person you discussed the issue with.

This is very important if you have reached an agreement settling a billing dispute. Confirm the details and the agreement in a letter sent by registered post to the organisation, any faxes or emails should be followed up by a letter.

Any emails about the matter should be printed out. Despite the claims of a paperless world, the only thing that really matters in disputes is what is written on paper.

Make sure you keep the full story in writing and this includes printing out emails and web pages.

Follow the ISPs complaint procedure

You may need to start a formal complaint within the organisation’s internal complaints or appeals procedures, the ISP or telco support line should be able to tell you how to do this. For smaller ISPs there may not be any formal procedures. A letter to the senior management may be necessary to get the right person to respond.

Contact the ISPs management

If the ISP doesn’t have a formal dispute procedure, or if it doesn’t respond, forward your complaints with copies of all the supporting documentation to the directors and Managing Director or CEO of the company concerned.

Generally directors and senior managers hate this and will make their displeasure known to the people responsible within their organisation. Again, be polite and respectful, make no threats and express your desire to settle the matter quickly and amicably.

Pay the bill

Some ISPs have a habit of calling in the debt collectors at an early stage. This complicates the matter and can also affect your credit record. Generally, it’s a good idea to pay any disputed amounts and then continue arguing about the facts of the dispute.

If you have direct debits with the ISP it may be necessary to stop these to avoid further disputed debits to your account. Do this in writing to the both the ISP and your bank with a cover letter informing them the direct debit has stopped. If you do this, make sure you are within your contract and you have a backup Internet service as the ISP will almost certainly stop your service immediately.

Complain to the TIO

If you are still unhappy, complain to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. They like you fill in their web complaint form but they will accept phone calls and written complaints.

Keep in mind they will not help you unless you’ve already tried to resolve the problem with the provider, they also won’t assist if you’ve complained to other organisations which is another reason not to make threats earlier in the process.

Further complaints

Despite all of the above, it’s still possible not to have resolved the problem with an ISP. The next step is to complain to your state consumer affairs department or the ACCC. You can also seek advice from your solicitor or local community legal centre.

The aim with any dispute is to settle it quickly and amicably. The important thing is to contact your provider quickly if you have a problem. Internet providers can be difficult to deal with but with a combination of patience, persistence, good record keeping and a cool temper, you can resolve most problems on your terms.

ABC Newcastle and Upper Hunter: Dealing with a telco dispute

Dealing with a dispute over an Internet or phone bill can be a frustrating experience. But there are ways to deal with the problem and get the result you want.

Join Carol Duncan and Paul Wallbank from 2.40pm on Monday, September 20 to look the best ways to reduce stress when dealing with call centres and billing departments.

We have further information on this topic at Dealing with an ISP dispute.

Tune into ABC 1233 Newcastle or ABC Upper Hunter from 2.40pm or listen online through the ABC Newcastle webpage. We love to hear from listeners so feel free call in with your questions or comments on 1300 233 222 or text on 19922702. If you’re on Twitter you can tweet paul at @paulwallbank and 1233 Newcastle on @1233newcastle.

ABC 702 Sydney Weekend: Why manners matter online

We discuss online etiquette on this month’s ABC Weekend tech segment

What you do on the Internet can affect your home and business life, so online manners matters.

Join 702 Sydney’s Simon Marnie and Paul Wallbank from 10am on Sunday, September 19 to look at some basic rules on how you should behave on the Internet.

We have further information on this topic at Why Online Manners Matter.

Tune into ABC 702 Sydney from 10am or listen online through the ABC Sydney webpage. We love to hear from listeners so feel free call in with your questions or comments on 1300 222 702 or text on 1999 1233. If you’re on Twitter you can tweet Paul at @paulwallbank and 702 Sydney on @702sydney.

Five rules to protect your online reputation

Stephanie Rice’s Twitter faux pas shows how fragile your reputation can be in an online world. Here’s five rules for avoiding problems.

Last week’s tearful apology by Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice for an inappropriate comment about a Rugby score on Twitter is reminder to all of us that nothing on the web is a private conversation.

Over the years we’ve learned email can be a dangerous medium as messages can be endlessly copied and forwarded. The infamous Claire Swire email where a group of young London lawyers trashed a girls, and their own, reputations was lesson we all learned from.

Today, we have far more opportunities than just email to make idiots of ourselves online and damage our own reputations, so here’s a few ideas on protecting yourself online;

Everything is in writing

Internet communication is largely written. If you wouldn’t an off colour joke or disparaging comment about a colleague in a letter, then you shouldn’t put it online.

The Internet is permanent

The little electronic bits and bytes might be transient, but what you write will be stored in numerous places. Even if you delete an inappropriate comment from your inbox or Facebook page, someone will be able to recover it.

Online privacy doesn’t exist

Given private conversations can be copied and forwarded, you need to assume that nothing online is private. If you’d have trouble explaining something to your mum, boss, minister or your investors then you shouldn’t write it.

The real world rules apply online

There’s a touching naivety about the online world with a belief that the Internet is immune from the rules of the “real” world. The truth is that the net is part of the real world and the rules and laws that govern our daily lives apply online as well — securities law, defamation and just plain good manners are as valid in cyberspace just as they are in the pub or boardroom.

Apologise quickly

We all make mistakes, and when we do it online news spreads fast. So a prompt admission and apologies to anyone concerned is the best way to defuse embarrassment.

The best thing though is to ask “would my mum be happy reading this” before pressing the send button. If you don’t think she would, then you might want to think about things before letting a comment off into the wide world of the web.

While the Internet is the most powerful tool available to businesses big and small, we need to always remember that powerful tools have to be used with care. Thinking before you post should be the first rule for online communication.

What makes a market?

Does demand for a product mean there’s a market for it?

There’s a difference between there being a demand and a market — just because there’s a need for your service or product it doesn’t translate to there being a market for it.

A market exists when someone is prepared to pay for the product or service. Which is the challenge where the idea of giving away things for free has become the currency of the Internet.

So even if you have a good idea, if you’re looking a building a business around that idea you’ll need to ask who is prepared to pay for it?

Another question of course is how much they are prepared to pay but that’s a different thought for another time.

How broadband won the Australian election

building a new communications network was the difference between the two parties

In a dour and negative Australian election campaign, the National Broadband Network was the one issue separated the look alike policies of the two major parties. In the end, it decided the election.

Privately developed communications networks are rare in the nation’s history for a combination of factors including Australia’s population distribution and commercial appetites for investment risk.

Australian governments have always been critical to the development of regional communications, from the establishment of state operated railway networks, through the post office owned telegraph and telephone networks and eventually the road system.

So the National Broadband Network is typical of Australian communications development where the government provides the infrastructure framework and the private sector grows around it.

There’s no doubt regional communities understood the importance of being connected to the global economy, successive Federal governments have struggled with a patchwork of government programs such as the Universal Service Obligation and Broadband Connect in an effort to guarantee some level of service for all Australian communities.

The NBN itself was conceived in the realisation that any solution that relied wholly on private funding was not going to deliver a national solution. This was view that regional organisations such as Digital Tasmania had held all along when agitating for their communities not being left behind.

And Tasmania was were the vote mattered, the coalition failed to win any Tasmanian seats where three would have been won had the state followed the rest of the nation. Those three seats; Bass, Franklin and Braddon would have been enough to give the Liberal and National Parties power.

Had the coalition focussed on the legitimate criticisms of the NBN such as the government’s failure to quantify the $43 billion price tag or NBNCo’s failure to produce a business plan then they may well have won the election.

As the country Independents stated, the NBN was one of the key considerations in their decision to support the Labor government, so not getting their NBN policy right cost the coalition government in two ways.

Now the NBN is going ahead we need to focus on what it can deliver, along with a sensible discussion on the right mix of fibre and wireless infrastructure, the proportion of private and public investment and exactly how much the project is going to cost.

Now is the time to get on with building what will be the 21st Century equivalent of the roads and railways of the 20th and 19th Centuries.

the need for a digital footprint

every business person needs an online profile

The need for a digital footprint
Everyone needs a personal description on the Internet

Once upon a time business reputations were spread through local taverns, guilds and market squares.

There was only one thing worse for a local merchant than having a bad reputation and that was having no community profile at all, if the townsfolk didn’t know who a merchant or professional was, their business would simply have no customers.

In modern times, the Internet is the town square and our customers and colleagues expect they can find our backgrounds and profiles on the web. All business people — individual staff members, managers, owners or founders — need something on the web to establish their credibility.

So an online presence, a digital footprint if you will, ranging from a basic profile in your company’s website through to an elaborate personal website, is now essential for all business people.

A good online start for most people is LinkedIn, which at its most basic is like a ready made online CV listing your work history, achievements and qualifications.

Enhancing LinkedIn’s value is the recommendation function where you can publicly thank colleagues for their good work and they can do likewise to you. These become instant professional references on view to the world.

The most powerful part of LinkedIn though lies in the social networking aspect. When you look at someone’s profile the service lists everyone connected to them and, most importantly, what connections they have in common with you. This is a great way of establishing an individual’s bona fides in an industry.

Social networks tend to reward frequent updates, while most business people don’t have time to update them, it is worthwhile keeping recent appointments and qualifications up to date so people checking you out have the latest details.

There are downsides with our digital footprint, we have to be careful about what we say online as inappropriate comments do get noticed and we are held accountable.

Privacy issues are always an issue for what you post online so don’t post family details on the public Internet or add anything you wouldn’t want broadcast next to your photo on the six o’clock news.

Just as we’ve previously said that web pages are today’s shopfront, the net is also becoming our business card. Just as we need business cards, we also need that digital footprint.

Even if you don’t want to put your details on a service like LinkedIn, make sure you at least have an up to date personal profile on your company website.

The good news story

We have some great tales to tell. It’s time to do it.

Last night, 700 children gathered at the Sydney Opera House for The Festival of Choral Music. Over the four days the event is run, over 2,000 kids will have performed in the choirs, bands and ensembles.

Why aren’t we telling these stories of talent, potential, happiness and beauty? Why are we bogged down in the negative, backward looking view of the world we see in much of our commentary of the world?

Maybe it’s time for a rethink about the stories we tell.